Batter UP!

Caleb is playing baseball again this year and is moving up to the level where the kids pitch the first two innings.  

Is that a good idea?  Who is to say, but it is what it is?

The first practice we had was at an indoor training facility in Pleasant Hill, called the Batters Box.  It has a small field in the building where the kids learn to run the bases along with batting cages.  There are probably 8 or 9 different batting cages differing in that in some of them, people pitch to you, and the others have machines that launch the balls out. 

There is a 40mph, 55mph and a couple of 70 mph boxes.  

Caleb's coach recommended putting the kids in the 40 mph hour one a couple of times prior to the first game where some kid is launching a 3lbs "rock" at them.  Since the balls in the cage always go over the plate, they tend to be much less terrified during the real games. 

Makes sense to me.

He batted that night of practice and I took Robby and him back up there one night last week.  It's not a cheap thing, but they had fun and it also revealed to me that Caleb needs to swing the bat at home everyday to get his muscles and stamina up a bit!

This is one of the times that Calebber actually connected with the ball.  He did pretty good his first time in, connecting with the ball probably 6 or 7 times out of the roughly 15 balls that the machine throws for a token.

Hippie boy Rob got in there next.  He had about 4 nice hits and connected with an additional 6 or 7 balls that ended up in various area's right around where he was standing.

I like this shot because you can actually see the ball coming in... that is, if you know where to look.  Caleb would hit more balls if he'd move in a little closer to the plate, but he wasn't about to!